D&D General An Atlantean Empire who are it's people and what are their capabilities?

[Zardnaar]

I used Atlantis. Thera was an outpost the core was the black sea. Known as Asu.

They were humans who were into bioshaping. They discovered how to give themselves power and the titans engorged themselves and became giants.

Unfortunately it's very unstable. Crapshoot becoming an Asi. They ended up banning genetic manipulation but the titans went nope.

The mutations created alot of new races and monsters.

 

[Stormonu]

Drawing off a couple of upstream ideas: it would be cool to have the capital city be expansive in height/depth, not necessarily in width, allowing for many different types of creatures to thrive in it. That plus the "lifeshaping" idea someone tossed out presents a very cool visual in my mind at least.

EDIT

Also, I've always loved the sahuagin. I think it might be an interesting take for them to be, or have been, the peak civilization in the underwater world. Maybe kind of the way Eberron reinvisioned the goblins as a fallen great empire with traditions going back centuries and the orcs as having been the first druids and key to protecting the world from what was effectively an invasion from the Far Realm. Perhaps the Atlanean sahuagin broke the hold of an ancient aboleth/kraken empire or developed the lifeshaping idea or maybe both.

I've always kind of seen the Sahaugin and Kuo-Toa as from the same family - perhaps one singular race in the past that had a mighty empire, but it fell. The Kuo-Toa fell into despair and retreated to the underworld, dreaming and lost in the glory of the lost empire. Meanwhile the Sahaugin raged against the fall, blaming the surface races and to this day (perhaps it was the Yuan-Ti who were involved with the lost empire), fighting to restore the lost empire that they have forgotten the secrets to actually rebuilding.

Locathah could be a third branch of this family, who moved past the fall of this great empire and content to continue on with whatever fate has in store for them in the future.

 

[Kobold Avenger]

One thing I view about this Empire is that Koalinth are as prominent as Merfolk and Sea Elves at least, despite them being traditionally a footnote in the Hobgoblin entry across editions. I don't see the Empire Koalinths being too much into Maglubyiet as a religion and more into the Empire's religion, despite the Empire tolerating the Goblinoid deity.

As for PC stats I'd go with something that's mostly the Hobgoblin stats, except for one trait that's replaced with the Sea Elf's Child of the Sea.
Creature Type: Humanoid, and also considered Goblinoid
Size: Medium
Speed: Walk 30, with a swim speed equal to their walking speed
Darkvision: 60 feet
Fey Ancestry: Just like goblinoid and elf trait
Fey Gift: Same as Hobgoblin
Child of the Sea: Can breathe air and water, and have resistance to cold damage.

 

[Kobold Avenger]

Oh, I considered the empire being multi-species as being a given. Empires tend to accumulate more ethnicities as they expand. Unless the empire wiped out the other species as it expanded, it would definitely end up having several different species inside it. My point was to give some thought as to how this would affect the empire, especially with how the depths of the ocean would affect it. Water elementals being in the military is an interesting idea.

One thing that ways in my mind is how both Marvel and DC have depicted Atlantis in regards to Aquaman or Namor. The Atlanteans have a strange combination of advanced almost spaceship like submarines and war machines pulled by giant seahorse to sea monsters.

I never felt that the Apparatus of Kwalish should be as rare as legendary as a magic item. The Atlanteans would have something like it but Gargantuan sized with rays of lightning or radiant damage.

Okay, so how does the empire make sure it always has enough mages casting Sending, Teleportation Circle, and planar gateway spells? The two obvious solutions to me are either powerful magic items or a government-funded arcane university.

I see there at least being:
A Sea Witch school, which specializes in weather and water control. Many of it's positions might be hereditary tied to dynasties and it's sisterhood.
The Bioshapers, which is essentially Ravnica's Simic Combine, and already has an aquatic theme.
The Summoners, which specialize in planar magic and teleportation. Especially with links to Elemental Water and Feywild and possibly Shadowfell and the Far Realm.

What happens to the empire if something goes wrong? This could be the hook for a quest. Maybe the party needs to negotiate a deal with the Marids after conflict arises? Or maybe the mages in charge of teleportation keep disappearing, and the party has to find the culprit before the empire erupts into chaos? Or if they're using a powerful artifact, maybe it was sabotaged?

Going to the City of Glass might be an important it was called the "Sigil of the Elements" back in 2e, as it contains links to other undersea nations in other worlds as well as realms across the Elemental Plane of Water. Otherwise it's having to travel to the Citadel of Ten Thousand Pearls where Kalbari al-Durrat al Amwaj ibn Jari, the Great Padishah of the Marids, Mother of Foam, Maharani of the Oceans, etc. rules. The Marids are a faction in themselves among the Empire, highly revered as the noblest of water elementals but also outsiders as they've never truly been loyal to the Empire as the fickle creature that they are.

I think organizing them by some sort of caste system would make sense. Maybe with some division based on the region of the ocean they live in. Deep sea species being of a lower caste makes sense to me, given their semi-independent nature and unpleasant habitat.

Consider the effects that the different government types would have on the average person in the empire. If a Storm Giant, Bronze Dragon, Sea Elf, or other long-lived creature is the leader of the empire, there's a good chance they've been in charge for centuries. Dozens of triton/locathah/sahuagin/genasi generations could pass in the empire during a single ruler's reign. Unless there are frequent civil wars/coups that change who's in charge, that is.

Imagine what it would be like living in a country that, for the last 500 years, has had the same king. Like if Spain was still ruled by Charles V or England was still on Henry VIII. And that country controls the entire ocean. How big was the empire when the current ruler took power?

Or, if there's a council, how fair is it? Does it represent all sentient species in the empire? Does it represent them proportionally or is there a single representative per species?

I think there'd be a council with a representative of each major species which would be the Sea Elves, Merfolk, Tritons, Water Genasi, Koalinths and Locathah, and a varied council of other species, and conflicting interests among those who are other things like Kraken, Dragons and Giants. The council of the major species might not be the actual rulers of the empire, but they are there to keep the "common people" of the empire happy and content.

The Sahuagin, Ixitxachitl and Kuo Toans are like the "barbarians" that Rome tried to deal with through conquest or diplomacy. Someone among them might be seeking to either get their own council representative, or become the Empire's rulers. I guess there's certainly a justification for the presence of the Sahuagin known as the Malenti there.

 

[Tonguez]

Abbys Thalossa
Abbys Thalossa is a colossal vertical metropolis extending from the abyssal depths of the Deepest Trench up to the shallow reef at the oceans surface. Each level plays hosts to different species, and is shaped by their role and needs in the empire. A network of controlled currents allow for rapid transit between benthis layers and out to more distant parts of the oceanic empire.

1. The Shimmering Reef (surface to 200m)​

The warm sunlit waters above the city, it is home to Sea Elves, Merfolk and Water Genasis who guard the surface and maintain diplomacy with land dwellers. The city features bright, sculptured coral towers, barrier reef flats and broad shallow lagoons warmed by the sun. Trade harbours and causeways for surface dwelling ships to visit have been provided and there is even a submerged airdome to allow surface dwellers to access the Deep Grotto and interact with their aquatic hosts. Bronze dragons, Lizardfolk and Tortles are regular visitors along with other surface dwelling diplomats, merchants and spies.

The Temple of the Sea is built here on a high coral platform near the edge of the docks, and welcomes locals and visitors alike to honour the Ocean and its gods.

2. The Deep Grotto (Mid-Depth to 1000m)
Below the sunlit surface the main section of the city is built into the ancient coral reef and reinforced with the bones of leviathans. Here Tritons work alongside Locathah merchants and Koalinth Officers to organise and protect the city and provide for its complex needs.

Highest in the zone the Deep Grotto includes an amphitheatre amidst the coral used for public gatherings and enclosed within the agora of the Deep Markets. The homes of the merfolk citizens can be found here carved into the coral.

Below the edge of the Deep Grotto can be found the Domes of the Imperial Courts and Bureaucracy and the Barracks of the Atlantean Legions. Outside the Grotto but patrolled by Koalinth Legion are the Kelp Forest, Fish fields and other resources areas where the Triton, Sea elf and merfolk citizens can be encountering during their days.

The largest structure in this Zone is the Nautillus Tower, built inside a gleaming spiral shell of immense size, this is the palace of the Atlantean High Council, representing the many nations and species of the Ocean who have agreed to unite under the protection of Abyss Thalossa and its queen. The Queen is also a priestess charged with maintaining pacts with the Aboleths, Krakens, Zaratan Dragon Turtles and other aquatic monsters that pose a threat to the city.


3. The Depths (Bathyc zone)
When the surface sunlight no longer penetrates, the Depths are lit by bioluminescence and the warmth of volcanic vents. Merrow are found here, alongside thos Koalinth and Triton who have been thrown out of the Legions. Even Skum, Morkoths, Kopru and Sahuagin are tolerated here.

The Volcanic Vents in this Zone provide important alchemical substances and are used for forging the bones of leviathans into weapons and armour for the Legions. The area is otherwise avoided by the more respectable citizens.

4. The Midnight Trench
The cold and crushing depths of the trench is where the detritus of the city falls and here the Kuo-toa cultist, aboleth thralls and sea hag covens can be found. The Prison of an ancient evil is said to the found here, the City was first built to keep watch that it never escapes into the world

 

[Bohandas]

It occurs to me that underwater it would potentially be feasible to build a skyscraper from just wood. The bouyancy would cancel out the weight and the biggest problem would be to stop it from snapping in the current (which could potentially be alleviated by omitting some of the walls and just having floors)

 

[Bohandas]

An alchemical process might not involve heat, if alchemy could transmute one material into another (like most infamously lead into gold), then maybe it temporarily converts metal into something that's malleable.

Ghorus Toth's Metal Melt; from Magic of Faerun IIRC

 

[Bohandas]

Some interesting ideas here but pick one and work out the implications. For instance:

The water around such vents is usually superhot (well over 100 dec C) but not boiling because of the pressure. So how they manipulate and how to the see what they are doing? Are they immune to the heat?

Hypothetically the heat could be used to transform some types of organic materials into some kind of charcoal or aerogel, both of which are good heat insulators. You'd have to choose the material carefully though, as many types of aerogel are destroyed by water
]

How do they control heat or fire? All technology beyond stone and bone needs heat or fire. To smelt metals, forge metals or distil elixirs.

Thermite and gunpowder will both burn underwater

 

[UngainlyTitan]

Hypothetically the heat could be used to transform some types of organic materials into some kind of charcoal or aerogel, both of which are good heat insulators. You'd have to choose the material carefully though, as many types of aerogel are destroyed by water
]


Thermite and gunpowder will both burn underwater

Some cool ideas here. Yeah, chemically anything with its own oxidisers should be able to burn in water.

 

[Stormonu]

It occurs to me that underwater it would potentially be feasible to build a skyscraper from just wood. The bouyancy would cancel out the weight and the biggest problem would be to stop it from snapping in the current (which could potentially be alleviated by omitting some of the walls and just having floors)

Moreso, rot. Also, it would likely attract barnacles that if left unchecked could accelerate rot and compromise the structure through sheer weight.

Coral could be an alternative, or the two could be used in tandem.

What might be more interesting is "sleds" - "skyscrapers" built horizontally, instead of vertically that reside just below the water's surface.